Adaptive coding and modulation for broadband data transmission

ABSTRACT

A process is described to build physical layer frames with a modcode adapted to the signal quality of a destination terminal. Data packets assigned to the same modcode may be sent in the same frame, although packets associated with higher modcodes may be used to complete a frame before switching to the applicable higher modcode for construction of subsequent frames. After an interval, the order of progression is restarted with an out of order packet above a threshold age. Flow control filtering mechanisms and a variable reliability margin may be used to adapt dynamically to the current data traffic conditions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from co-pending U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/731,122, filed Oct. 28, 2005, entitled “ADAPTIVECODING AND MODULATION FOR BROADBAND DATA TRANSMISSION,” which is herebyincorporated by reference, as if set forth in full in this document, forall purposes.

This application is related to the following U.S. patent applications:U.S. patent application No.______ , Attorney Docket No. 026258-002320US,filed Oct. 30, 2006, entitled “ADAPTIVE CODING AND MODULATION QUEUINGMETHODS AND DEVICES”; U.S. patent application No.______ , AttorneyDocket No. 026258-002330US, filed Oct. 30, 2006, entitled “ADAPTIVECODING AND MODULATION USING LINKED LIST DATA STRUCTURES”; and U.S.patent application No. ______ , Attorney Docket No. 026258-002340US,filed Oct. 30, 2006, entitled “ADAPTIVE CODING AND MODULATION FLOWCONTROL AND TRAFFIC SHAPING METHODS AND DEVICES”. This applicationhereby incorporates by reference herein the content of each of theaforementioned applications in their entirety and for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to wireless communications in general and,in particular, to adaptive coding and modulation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Bi-directional wireless systems (such as satellite) may benefit from theuse of adaptive coding and modulation (“ACM”). Using ACM, the modulationformat and Forward Error Correction (“FEC”) codes for a signal may beadapted to better match the link conditions for each user in amulti-user system. A return channel or other means may be used to reportthe conditions of a receiving terminal. These link conditions are oftencharacterized by the individual user's (or terminal's) signal to noiseratio (“SNR”). In a broadcast system, for example, the waveformbroadcast to a number of users includes data packets designated only foran individual terminal (or small group of terminals). A messagetransmitted to a user requires fewer symbols (and thus less time) when ahigher order modulation and higher code rate is used. Lower ordermodulation and lower code rate are more reliable but require more timeto transmit the same size message. Using ACM, each packet may betransmitted at an optimized modulation and coding (“modcode”) levelgiven the destination terminal's link conditions.

Wireless channels may suffer from time varying channel conditions.Signals traveling in changing environmental conditions may be scattered,reflected, and diffracted, causing varying channel conditions over time.These changes may, for example, be due to changing weather conditions ormovement of objects. There is a need for new ways to shape and controlACM data traffic dynamically, so that the traffic may be moreefficiently transmitted to select terminals.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A process is described to build physical layer frames with a modcodeadapted to the signal quality of a destination terminal. Data packetsassigned to the same modcode are generally sent in the same frame,although packets associated with higher modcodes may be used to completea frame before switching to the applicable higher modcode forconstruction of subsequent frames. After certain time intervals, anorder of progression is restarted with an out of order packet above athreshold age. Flow control filtering mechanisms and a variablereliability margin may be used to adapt dynamically to the current datatraffic conditions.

In one set of embodiments, packet forwarding queues are used to controlthe flow of packets according to modcode. Each queue is assigned to adifferent modcode, and is thereby associated with a signal qualityrange. Packets are placed into a queue associated with a signal qualityrange encompassing the link to which the packet is destined. In anotherset of embodiments, packets are associated with elements of a linkedlist. In such embodiments, the flow of packets is controlled byiterating through the linked list to identify packets within selectsignal quality ranges. Various device and system configurations aredescribed to implement the processes set forth above, as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the following drawings. In theappended figures, similar components or features may have the samereference label. Further, various components of the same type may bedistinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label.

FIG. 1 illustrates a satellite communications system in which adaptivecoding and modulation (“ACM”) may be implemented according to variousembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example of a modcode table that may be used toimplement ACM according to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2B illustrates an example of an address/SNR table that may be usedto implement ACM according to various embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a DVB-S2 framingformat that may be used to implement ACM according to variousembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a communicationsdevice configured according to various embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a packet encapsulation andtransmission format according to various embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow control process for packettransmission according to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a flow control and packetencapsulation process according to various embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a device including aqueueing unit configured according to various embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an alternativecommunications device including a queueing unit configured according tovarious embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a queueing process according tovarious embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a flow control queueing process forpacket transmission according to various embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 12 is flowchart illustrating an alternative flow control queueingprocess for packet transmission according to various embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a communicationsdevice configured to use a linked list according to various embodimentsof the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an alternativecommunications device configured to use a linked list according tovarious embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 15A and 15B are block diagrams illustrating use of a linked listaccording to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating a flow control process using alinked list according to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an iteration through a linked listin which elements are linked according to various embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an alternative process for iterationthrough a linked list in which elements are linked according to variousembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a communicationsdevice configured to vary a reliability margin according to variousembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a linear representation of a number of variable signalquality ranges for use according to various embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a variable reliability marginconfigured according to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an alternative process for modifyinga reliability margin configured according to various embodiments of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is notintended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention. Rather, the ensuing description of the embodiments willprovide those skilled in the art with an enabling description forimplementing embodiments of the invention. Various changes may be madein the function and arrangement of elements without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in asimilar manner.

Thus, various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add variousprocedures or components as appropriate. For instance, it should beappreciated that in alternative embodiments, the methods may beperformed in an order different than that described, and that varioussteps may be added, omitted or combined. Also, features described withrespect to certain embodiments may be combined in various otherembodiments. It should also be appreciated that the following systems,methods, and software may be a component of a larger system, whereinother procedures may take precedence over or otherwise modify theirapplication. Also, a number of steps may be required before, after, orconcurrently with the following embodiments.

Novel systems, methods, devices, and software are described to shape andcontrol the data traffic in an ACM system. FIG. 1 is a block diagramillustrating an example satellite communications system 100 configuredaccording to various embodiments of the invention. While a satellitecommunications system is used to illustrate various aspects of theinvention, it is worth noting that certain principles set forth hereinare applicable to a variety of other wireless systems, as well. Thesatellite communications system 100 includes a network 120, such as theInternet, interfaced with a gateway 115 that is configured tocommunicate with one or more subscriber terminals 130, via a satellite105.

The network 120 may be any type of network and can include, for example,the Internet, an IP network, an intranet, a local- or wide-area network,a virtual private network, the Public Switched Telephone Network(“PSTN”), or any other type of network supporting data communicationbetween devices described herein, in different embodiments. A network120 may include both wired and wireless connections, including opticallinks. The network 120 may also transmit information about linkconditions for one or more subscriber terminals to the gateway 115. Thenetwork may connect the gateway 115 with other gateways (not pictured),which are also in communication with the satellite 105, and which mayshare information on link conditions and other network metrics.

The gateway 115 provides an interface between the network 120 and thesubscriber terminal 130. The gateway 115 may be configured to receivedata and information directed to one or more subscriber terminals 130,and can format the data and information (e.g., using ACM) for deliveryto the respective destination terminal 130 via the satellite 105.Similarly, the gateway 115 may be configured to receive upstream signalsfrom the satellite 105 (e.g., from one or more subscriber terminals)directed to a destination in the network 120, and can format thereceived signals for transmission along the network 120.

A device (not shown) connected to the network 120 may communicate withone or more subscriber terminals through the gateway 115. Data andinformation, for example IP datagrams, may be sent from a device in thenetwork 120 to the gateway 115. The gateway 115 may format a MediumAccess Control (MAC) frame in accordance with a physical layerdefinition for transmission to the satellite 105. A variety of physicallayer transmission modulation and coding techniques may be used withcertain embodiments of the invention, including those defined with theDVB-S2 and WiMAX standards. In a number of embodiments, the gateway 115utilizes ACM in conjunction with one or more of the novel trafficcontrol and shaping techniques described herein to direct traffic to theindividual terminals. The gateway 115 may use a broadcast signal, with amodulation and coding (“modcode”) format adapted for each packet to thelink conditions of the terminal 130 or set of terminals 130 to which thepacket is directed (e.g., to account for the variable service link 150conditions from the satellite 105 to each respective terminal 130).

The gateway 115 may use an antenna 110 to transmit the signals to thesatellite 105. In one embodiment, the antenna 110 comprises a parabolicreflector with high directivity in the direction of the satellite andlow directivity in other directions. The antenna 110 may be implementedin a variety of alternative configurations. The downstream signals mayinclude, for example, a number of single carrier signals. Each signalcarrier signal may be divided (e.g., using TDMA) into a number ofvirtual channels. The virtual channels may be the same size, ordifferent sizes. In other embodiments, other channelization schemes maybe used, such as Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Code Division MultipleAccess (CDMA), or any number of hybrid or other schemes known in theart.

In one embodiment, a geostationary satellite 105 is configured toreceive the signals from the location of antenna 110 and within thefrequency band and specific polarization transmitted. The satellite 105may process the signals received from the gateway 115 and forward thesignal from the gateway 115 containing the MAC frame to one or moresubscriber terminals 130. In one embodiment, the satellite 105 operatesin a multi-beam mode, transmitting a number of narrow beams eachdirected at a different region of the earth, allowing for frequencyre-use. This satellite 105 is configured as a “bent pipe” satellite,wherein the satellite may frequency convert the received carrier signalsbefore retransmitting these signals to their destination, but otherwiseperform little or no other processing on the contents of the signals. Avariety of physical layer transmission modulation and coding techniquesmay be used by the satellite 105 in accordance with certain embodimentsof the invention, including those defined with the DVB-S2 and WiMAXstandards. For other embodiments a number of configurations are possible(e.g., using LEO satellites, or using a mesh network instead of a starnetwork), as evident to those skilled in the art.

The service signals 150 transmitted from the satellite 105 may bereceived by one or more subscriber terminals 130, via the respectivesubscriber antenna 125. The subscriber terminals 130 may receive thesignals from the satellite 105 under very diverse link conditions. Inone embodiment, the antenna 125 and terminal 130 together comprise avery small aperture terminal (VSAT). In other embodiments, a variety ofother types of antennas 125 may be used at the subscriber terminal 130to receive a signal. Each of the subscriber terminals 130 may comprise asingle user terminal or, alternatively, a hub or router (not pictured)that is coupled to multiple user terminals. Each subscriber terminal 130may be connected to consumer premises equipment (CPE) 160 comprising,for example computers, local area networks, Internet appliances,wireless networks, etc.

In one embodiment, a Multi-Frequency Time-Division Multiple Access(MF-TDMA) scheme is used for upstream links 140, 145, allowing efficientstreaming of traffic while maintaining flexibility in allocatingcapacity among each of the subscriber terminals 130. In this embodiment,a number of frequency channels are allocated which may be fixed, orwhich may be allocated in a more dynamic fashion. A Time DivisionMultiple Access (TDMA) scheme is also employed in each frequencychannel. In this scheme, each frequency channel may be divided intoseveral timeslots that can be assigned to a connection (i.e., asubscriber terminal 130). In other embodiments, one or more of theupstream links 140, 145 may be configured with other schemes, such asFDMA, OFDMA, CDMA, or any number of hybrid or other schemes known in theart.

A subscriber terminal 130 may transmit information related to signalquality to the gateway 115 via the satellite 105. The signal quality maybe a measured signal to noise ratio, an estimated signal to noise ratio,a bit error rate, a received power level, or any other communicationlink quality indicator. The subscriber terminal itself may measure orestimate the signal quality, or it may pass information measured orestimated by other devices. A subscriber terminal may also transmit dataand information to a network 120 destination via the satellite 105 andgateway 115. The subscriber terminal 130 transmits the signals via theupstream uplink 145 to the satellite 105 using the antenna 125. Asubscriber terminal 130 may transmit the signals according to a varietyof physical layer transmission modulation and coding techniques,including those defined with the DVB-S2 and WiMAX standards. In variousembodiments, the physical layer techniques may be the same for each ofthe links 135, 140, 145, 150, or may be different.

Referring to FIG. 2A, an example of a modcode table 200 is illustratedin the form of a block diagram. This form of modcode table 200 may, forexample, be used by a gateway 115 to determine the modcode to be usedfor packets destined for a subscriber terminal operating in a givensignal quality range. The table contains a column listing a number ofmodcode formats 205. Each modcode format 205 corresponds to a specifiedsignal quality range 210. Thus, using the signal quality attributed to adestination link for a packet, a signal quality range 210 encompassingthe link may be identified, and the appropriate modcode may be selected.For example, if a destination link has a signal quality within Range 7,the modcode QPSK 3/4 may be used. In some embodiments, one or more ofthe ranges may include a reliability margin (which may be beneficialwhen channel conditions are changing rapidly, for example). One or moreof the ranges may be modified dynamically to adjust this reliabilitymargin as well.

In other embodiments, other signal quality indicators may be used, suchas a measured signal to noise ratio, an estimated signal to noise ratio,a bit error rate, a received power level, or any other communicationlink quality indicator. It is also worth noting that a number of otherdata structures may also be used to relate signal quality ranges tomodcodes. In one embodiment, each signal quality is associated with adifferent packet forwarding queue. In still other embodiments, otherinformation density parameters in addition to modcode changes may beadded to further adapt a signal to environmental or other conditions.

Turning to FIG. 2B, an example of an address/SNR table 250 isillustrated in the form of a block diagram. This form of address/SNRtable 250 may, for example, be used by a gateway 115 to lookup thesignal quality 260 of a subscriber terminal 130 to which a packet isdestined, based on the destination address 255. The tables in FIGS. 2Aand 2B may be embodied on one or more memories, which may be either onor off chip, and may be used in conjunction with one another tocorrelate a MAC address with a particular modcode format.

Although a destination MAC address is used in this example, othermechanisms may be used to identify particular subscriber terminals,including destination VLAN-ID, a Destination Internet Protocol (“DIP”)address, a private addressing ID, any other set of data comprising orotherwise correlated with a destination address. The data address may beparsed from a received data packet after arrival at a device, or it maybe received in any other manner known in the art. It is also worthnoting that a number of other data structures may also be used to relatean address to signal quality.

Once a modcode for a particular packet or packets is identified, forexample using the modcode table 200, it may then be encapsulated, coded,mapped and transmitted in a variety of ways, as known in the art. Oneway to implement ACM is via the DVB-S2 standard, which specificallyprovides for its use. As noted above, ACM may change the modulationformat and Forward Error Correction (FEC) codes (“modcodes”) to bestmatch the current link conditions. This adaptation may occur on a frameby frame basis. The discussion that follows assumes an IP based packetnetwork in the context of a DVB-S2 satellite transmission system, butthe concepts may be applied for a variety of systems, including systemsimplementing DOCSIS or WiMax.

Turning to FIG. 3, the framing format 300 for a frame of a DVB-S2 systemis set forth to illustrate various aspects of the invention. In oneembodiment, each frame is broadcast to all terminals 130, but is onlydirected at a select subscriber terminal 130 (or small groups ofterminals 130). For example, the waveform may be a single carrierwaveform transmitted downstream from a gateway 115 to a subscriberterminal 130 in the system 100 of FIG. 1. As noted above, while theDVB-S2 system is used as an example, the principles specified herein areapplicable to a range of systems.

In this embodiment, a base-band frame 320 is made up of a base-bandheader 305, a data field 310, and padding 315. Data in the data fieldmay include one or more IP packets encapsulated in a MAC frame, or mayinclude other types of data as well. The data field may includeaddressing information (e.g., IP address, MAC address, etc.) indicatingthe terminal or terminals to which the packet will be directed. In someembodiments, IP packets associated with different modcodes may betransmitted in the same base-band frame 320, according to the lowerorder modcode. The DVB-S2 specification provides that certain frameswill be of fixed size regardless of the modcode used (i.e., a normal FECframe is 64,800 bits, and a shortened FEC frame is 16,200 bits).Therefore, instead of simply padding a frame when there is additionalspace available and no other remaining packets associated with a currentmodcode, a data packet (or fragment thereof) associated with a higherorder modcode may be inserted into the base-band frame. In oneembodiment, the available space is filled with as many additional datapackets as will fit without overflow.

Interleaving and FEC encoding (e.g., BCH and LDCP) may then be performedon the base-band frame 320 to produce an encoded base-band frame 325,and outer coding parity bits 330 and inner coding parity bits 335 areappended to produce a FEC Frame 340. While, as noted above, the DVB-S2specification provides that the FEC frame 340 will be of fixed size, inother embodiments, the FEC frame 340 size may vary according to themodcode selected for the frame, to thereby produce, for example, framesof uniform duration in time.

The FEC frame 340 is bit mapped to the applicable constellation (e.g.,QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK, 32APSK), to produce a XFEC frame 345 made up ofsymbols representative of the frame contents. A PL header 350 is addedto the XFEC frame 345, together forming the PL frame 365. The PL header350 is made up of a start of frame (SOF) slot 355 of 26 symbols, and amodcode (MODCOD) slot 360 of 64 symbols specifying the modcode and size(i.e., whether normal or shortened FEC frame). The PL header 350 isencoded. The PL frame 365 is then baseband shaped and quadraturemodulated, as well as amplified and upconverted to be transmitteddownstream.

Referring to FIG. 4, a simplified block diagram illustrates an exampleof a device 400 configured according to various embodiments of theinvention. In one embodiment, the device 400 is the gateway 115 of FIG.1, transmitting packets downstream with modcodes adapted to the link towhich the packets are directed. In other embodiments, the device 400 maybe used in any number of different ACM implementations.

The device 400 in this embodiment includes a sorting unit 405 and atransmitting unit 410. In some embodiments, the transmitting unit 410 ismade up of an encapsulation unit 415, a modulation and coding unit 420,and a transmitter 425. These components ( 405, 410, 415, 420, and 425)may be implemented, in whole or in part, in hardware. Thus, they maycomprise one, or more, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs)adapted to perform a subset of the applicable functions in hardware.Alternatively, the functions may be performed by one or more otherprocessing units (or cores), on one or more integrated circuits. Inother embodiments, other types of integrated circuits may be used (e.g.,Structured/Platform ASICs, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) andother Semi-Custom ICs), which may be programmed in any manner known inthe art. Each may also be implemented, in whole or in part, withinstructions embodied in a computer-readable medium, formatted to beexecuted by one or more general or application specific processors.Thus, the device 400 may include different types and configurations ofmemory (not shown), which may be integrated into the hardware or may beone or more separate components.

For purposes of discussion, assume that the device 400 is a gateway 115within the system 100 of FIG. 1. In one embodiment, the system 100 isimplemented in a star configuration where each terminal 130 communicateswith the device 400, receiving a wide band broadcast signal andsearching the waveform for data destined for that terminal 130. Eachterminal 130 estimates the SNR of the received signal, although in otherembodiments, different signal quality metrics may be used. Thisinformation is included in the return path, which may be established viaa satellite link or some other means. In other embodiments, the device400 may receive the link signal quality data from other sources as well.The device 400 then has an SNR estimate for each terminal (e.g., theaddress/SNR table 250 of FIG. 2B), and may organize this data on one ormore memories, which may be implemented in hardware, in a separatecomputer readable medium, or external to the device 400.

Turning now to the packet flow, before being received by the device 400,a data packet may travel through a Class of Service/Quality of Servicerouter (not shown), which may append several fields of information datapacket. These fields may include the MAC address of the destinationterminal, a counter field, and a time stamp field. Any of thisfunctionality may be integrated into the device, as well.

The sorting unit 405 is configured to dynamically assign a differentmodcode to each data packet after each packet is received by the device.This assignment is based at least in part on a signal quality of a linkto which the respective packet is destined. The sorting unit 405 isconfigured to use the MAC address, in conjunction with the SNR estimate,to identify a modcode to use to communicate with a terminal 130. To doso, the sorting unit 405 may produce or otherwise access a modcode table200, or other mechanism which correlates certain SNR estimate rangeswith different modcodes.

A transmitting unit 410, directly or indirectly connected with thesorting unit 405, is configured to transmit the sorted packets accordingto a defined order of progression, and to produce a broadcast signaloutput 430. In one embodiment, the defined order of progressioncomprises transmitting each received data packet associated with a firstmodcode (perhaps in sequence from oldest to youngest), beforeincrementing to a next higher order modcode and transmitting eachreceived data packet associated with a next higher order modcode(perhaps in sequence from oldest to youngest), and incrementingaccordingly to the highest order modcode. The process is then repeatedbeginning from the lowest order modcode. Note, however, that the term“defined order of progression” may include any packet forwardingselection or flow control algorithm known in the art. For example, adefined order of progression may encompass any of the number of queueingschemes that may order and format packets for forwarding based onmodcode, destination address, order received, age, etc.

In one embodiment, the defined order of progression is interrupted uponexpiration of a timer (hereinafter “interrupt timer”), and an out oforder packet exceeding a threshold age is identified. The interrupttimer interval in one embodiment is 10 mS, but a variety of otherintervals are possible. For each 10 mS time interval, several frames maybe built, and the real time required to transmit these frames will betracked. This may be accomplished by totaling the number of symbolsrequired to transmit the physical layer frames. Once enough frames havebeen created such that more than 10 mS of time is required to transmitthem, the timer expires. A number of other timer calculations arepossible, as evident to those skilled in the art.

In one embodiment, the identified packet is the oldest received packetnot yet transmitted (i.e., the threshold age is the age of the secondoldest packet). The identified packet is then transmitted, and thedefined order of progression may be restarted from the oldest packet. Inanother embodiment, all packets above a second threshold age are sentbefore the order of progression is restarted.

The device 400 may control other flow modifications when the identifiedoldest packet is above certain threshold ages. For example, if theidentified packet exceeds a first threshold age (e.g., 50 mS), thesorting unit 405 may be further configured to allow data packetsassociated with a threshold quality or class of service to enter, whileblocking others. If the identified packet exceeds a second threshold age(e.g., 80 mS), the sorting unit 405 may be further configured to blockall incoming packets until another period of the timer expires. Inanother embodiment, the transmitting unit 410 is further configured tovary the period of the timer based at least in part on changes in theage of the identified oldest packet (e.g., decreasing the period of thetimer if the age of the oldest packet increases). While these changesmay be associated with the age of the oldest identified packet (e.g.,measured by the difference between timestamp and transmission), otherlatency and traffic flow measurements may be used to modify theseparameters.

In another embodiment, the sorting unit 405 is configured to vary asignal quality range associated with one or more modcodes to modify areliability margin data for packets destined for a link within thevaried signal quality range. For example, the sorting unit may beconfigured to increase the reliability margin when traffic is light, anddecrease the reliability margin when traffic is heavy. This adjustmentmay, for example, be made based on the age of the oldest packetidentified at the expiration of the timer (e.g., if T0>60 mS, set marginto 1 dB; if 60 mS>T0≧40 mS, set margin to 2 dB; if 40 mS>T0, set marginto 3 dB).

In some embodiments, the defined order of progression may include havingthe sorting unit 405 configured to group data packets associated withdifferent modcodes for encapsulation in one frame to be transmittedaccording to a lowest order modcode of the different modcodes, thegrouping to occur when there are no other remaining data packets thatare associated with the lowest order modcode. For example, when there isadditional space available in a base-band frame 320 and no otherremaining packets are associated with a current modcode, a data packet(or fragment thereof) associated with a next higher order modcode may beinserted into the base-band frame 320.

To fill the additional space, a higher order packet may be fragmented,for example, into a first fragment and a second fragment. In such anembodiment, the first fragment may be sized to fill the available space,and transmitted in the first frame according to the lower order modcode.The second fragment may then be transmitted in a following frameaccording to the higher modcode.

In such embodiments, the transmitting unit 410 may include anencapsulation unit 415. The encapsulation unit 415 may be configured toencapsulate in a frame (e.g., a single base-band frame 320) one or morepackets associated with a lower order modcode and one or more additionalpackets associated with a higher order modcode. The transmitting unit410 also includes a modulation and coding unit 420 configured to encodeand map the frame according to the lower order modcode (e.g., to produceXFEC frame 345). A transmitter 425 may baseband shape and quadraturemodulate the frame, as well as amplify and upconvert the signal, toproduce a broadcast signal output 430.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process 500 of implementingadaptive coding and modulation in a broadcast signal. The process may beperformed, for example, in whole or in part by the device 400 of FIG.4.At block 505, a first modcode is associated with a first signal qualityrange. At block 510, a higher order second modcode is associated with asecond signal quality range of better quality.

At block 515, a first data packet destined for a first link within thefirst signal quality range and a second data packet destined for asecond link within the second signal quality range are received. Atblock 520, the first data packet and at least a part of the second datapacket are encapsulated in a single frame. At block 525, the first frameis transmitted in the broadcast signal according to the first modcode.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process 600 for controlling theflow of data traffic in a broadcast signal implementing adaptive codingand modulation. The process may be performed, for example, in whole orin part by the device 400 of FIG. 4. At block 605, a modcode isdynamically assigned to each of a number of data packets based on asignal quality of a link to which each respective packet is destined. Atblock 610, each data packet is associated with a timestamp. At block615, some of the received data packets are transmitted according to adefined order of progression. At block 620, the defined order ofprogression is interrupted upon expiration of a timer, and an out oforder packet is transmitted with a timestamp exceeding a threshold age.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process 700 for controlling theflow of data traffic in a broadcast signal implementing adaptive codingand modulation. The process may be performed, for example, in whole orin part by the device 400 of FIG. 4. At block 705, various modcodes areeach associated with different signal quality ranges, the signal qualityranges including a reliability margin. At block 710, a modcode isassigned to each of a number of data packets based on a signal qualityof a link to which each respective packet is destined. At block 715, atimestamp is associated with each of the data packets.

At block 720, some of the data packets are transmitted according to adefined order of progression, the order providing for data packetsassigned to different modcodes to be transmitted in a single frameaccording to the lower order modcode. At block 725, upon expiration of atimer, the defined order of progression is interrupted to transmit anoldest packet. At block 730, the defined order of progression isrestarted from the oldest packet.

At block 735, a measure of latency associated with the transmission isdetermined (e.g., based on the age of the transmitted oldest packet, orusing other latency or flow characteristics). At block 740, at least oneof the signal quality ranges associated with the modcodes are varied tomodify the reliability margin, the varying based at least in part on thelatency measure. At block 745, the period of the timer is varied basedat least in part on the latency measure. At block 750, only packets withcertain class or quality of service characteristics are allowed, whileothers are blocked, based at least in part on the characteristics of theoldest packet. The process may then be restarted from block 710.

Referring next to FIG. 8, a simplified block diagram illustrates anexample of a queueing device 800 configured to queue and transmitpackets according to their modcode. The queueing device 800, in oneembodiment, may be the device 400 described in relation to FIG. 4,implementing adaptive modulation and coding utilizing the queueingprocess described below.

The device 800 in this embodiment includes a queueing unit 805, a numberof packet forwarding queues 810, and a transmitting unit 815. Thesecomponents ( 805, 810, and 815) may be in communication with oneanother, and may be implemented, in whole or in part, in hardware. Thus,they may comprise one, or more, Application Specific Integrated Circuits(ASICs) adapted to perform a subset of the applicable functions inhardware. Alternatively, the functions may be performed by one or moreother processing units (or cores), on one or more integrated circuits.In other embodiments, other types of integrated circuits may be used(e.g., Structured/Platform ASICs, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)and other Semi-Custom ICs), which may be programmed in any manner knownin the art. Each may also be implemented, in whole or in part, withinstructions embodied in a computer-readable medium, formatted to beexecuted by one or more general or application specific processors. Thequeues 810 may be embodied on one or more memories, which may be eitheron or off chip.

For purposes of discussion, assume that the device 800 is a gateway 115within the system 100 of FIG. 1. However, note that in otherembodiments, the device 800 may be used in any number of different ACMimplementations. In one embodiment, the system 100 is implemented in astar configuration where each terminal 130 communicates with the device800, receiving a wide band broadcast signal and searching the waveformfor data destined for that terminal 130. Each terminal 130 may estimatethe signal quality of the service link using any one of a variety ofmetrics, and transmit the estimate to the queueing device via the returnpath. In other embodiments the device 800 may receive the link signalquality data from other sources as well. The device 800 then has areceive signal estimate for each terminal (e.g., the address/SNR table250 of FIG. 2B), and may organize this data on one or more memories,which may be implemented in hardware, in a separate computer readablemedium, or external to the device 800.

Turning now to the packet flow, a data packet from a data source may bereceived by the queueing device 800. The queueing device 800 includes anumber of individual packet forwarding queues 810, each assigned adifferent modcode and associated with a select one of a number of signalquality ranges. After entering the device, each respective packet isreceived by a queueing unit 805 configured to place the packet into aselect one of the packet forwarding queues 810. The particular queueselected is based on its association with a signal quality rangeencompassing a signal quality of a link to which the respective packetis destined. To make this assignment, the queueing unit 805 may produceor otherwise access a modcode table 200, or other mechanisms whichcorrelate certain signal quality estimate ranges with differentmodcodes. By queueing packets as they arrive, the queueing unit 805 isable to order the packets in the queues 810 from oldest to youngest.Thus, the queues 810 may be FIFO buffers, so the packets in each queueare in time order. (It is worth noting that in some embodiments, thesorting unit 405 of FIG. 4 may be implemented as the queueing unit 805of FIG. 8).

A transmitting unit 815, directly or indirectly connected with thepacket forwarding queues 810, is configured to transmit the packetsaccording to a defined order of progression, and to produce a broadcastsignal output 820. In one embodiment, the defined order of progressioncomprises transmitting each received data packet in a given forwardingqueue associated with a first modcode (e.g., in sequence from oldest toyoungest), before incrementing to the queue 810 associated with the nexthigher order modcode and transmitting each received data packetassociated with a next higher order modcode (again, perhaps in sequencefrom oldest to youngest), and incrementing accordingly to the queue 810with the highest order modcode. Once the queue with the highest ordermodcode is emptied, the process is then repeated beginning from thequeue 810 associated with the lowest order modcode. Note that in oneembodiment, the defined order of progression may provide fortransmitting at least one data packet from a first selected queue and adata packet or fragment from a second selected queue in a single frameaccording to lower order modcode. For example, when there is additionalspace available in a base-band frame 320 and no other remaining packetsare associated with a current modcode, a data packet (or fragmentthereof) associated with a next higher order modcode may be insertedinto the base-band frame 320. Note, also, that the term “defined orderof progression” may include any of a number of queueing schemes that mayorder and format packets for forwarding based on modcode, destinationaddress, order received, age, etc.

The defined order of progression is interrupted upon expiration of atimer (hereinafter “interrupt timer”), and a packet exceeding athreshold age and from an out of order queue 810 is identified. In oneembodiment, the identified packet is the oldest received packet not yettransmitted (i.e., the threshold age is the second oldest packet). Theidentified packet is then transmitted, and the defined order ofprogression may be restarted from the transmitted packet. Note that inone embodiment, the defined order of progression may provide fortransmitting at least one data packet from the first selected queue andthe data packet from the second selected queue in a single frameaccording to the first modcode

Turning to FIG. 9, an alternative embodiment of the queueing device 800is illustrated, including additional component functionality from thatdescribed with respect to FIG. 8. In this embodiment, before beingreceived by the device 400, a data packet may travel from the datasource through a Class of Service/Quality of Service router 930, whichmay append the class or quality of service information field and anaddress field identifying the destination terminal.

From the QoS/CoS Router, a data packet may be transmitted to thequeueing device 805. In addition to the functionality described above,the queueing unit 805 in this embodiment may include a timestamp 905unit, a counter 910, a filtering unit 915, and a margin unit 920. Thequeueing device 800 may utilize these components to control certain flowmodifications. The timestamp 905 unit may be used to append or otherwiseassociate a timestamp to a packet when it is received by the device, orat other processing stages. The timestamp may, therefore, be used todetermine the “age” of given packet. The timestamp may be used by othercomponents of the queueing device 800 to determine latency associatedwith a particular packet or packets at different stages of processing(i.e., latency from receipt at the device 800 to transmission, latencywithin the queueing unit, etc.).

The queueing unit 805 may make use of the timestamp in a number of ways.For example, consider an interruption of the defined order ofprogression to identify an out of order packet. If age (determinedthrough use of the timestamp 905 unit) of the identified packet exceedsa first threshold age (e.g., 60 mS), the filtering unit 915 may beconfigured to allow data packets associated with a threshold quality orclass of service to enter, while blocking others. If the identifiedpacket exceeds a second threshold age (e.g., 90 mS), the filtering unit915 may be further configured to block all incoming packets untilanother period of the timer expires.

In one embodiment, the queueing unit 805 includes a margin unit 920configured to vary a signal quality range associated with one or morequeues. The margin unit 920 may vary the signal quality range of a queueto modify a reliability margin for data packets destined for a linkwithin the varied signal quality range. By way of example, the marginunit 920 may be configured to increase the minimum signal quality of arange when traffic is light, and decrease the minimum signal quality ofa range when traffic is heavy. This adjustment may, for example, be madebased on the age of the packet identified at the expiration of the timer925.

In one embodiment, the queueing unit utilizes a counter 910 to associatean order with the data packets, perhaps on a per destination addressbasis. The transmitting unit 815 may be configured to hold transmissionof a data packet when the packet is out of the order specified by thecounter.

As noted above, according to one set of embodiments, the defined orderof progression is interrupted upon expiration of a timer, and a packetexceeding a threshold age, and from an out of order queue 810, isidentified. The timer may be located on, or off the device. In oneembodiment, an on-device timer 925 is located in the transmitting unit815. The transmitting unit 815 may be configured to vary the period ofthe timer based at least in part on the latency measure or a data flowmeasure (e.g., decreasing the period of the timer if the age of packetsand the data flow through the device 800 increase). While these changesmay be associated with the age of the packet identified from the out oforder queue, other latency and traffic flow measurements may be used tomodify these parameters (e.g., filtering unit 915 parameters, marginunit 920 parameters, or period of the timer 925).

Turning to FIG. 10, a flow diagram illustrates an example decision flow1000 for a device, such as the queueing device 800 of FIGS. 8 or 9. Atblock 1002, assume that the process begins upon the expiration of atimer, such as the timer 925 in the transmitting unit 820 of FIG. 9. Thetimer then restarts. In this embodiment, there is a table in which MACaddresses of the destination terminals are associated with the queues810 (e.g., by using the tables 200, 250). At block 1004, these tablesare updated with revised SNR information from the terminals. Incomingdata packets are filtered at block 1006 according to blocking rulesbased on latency measurements, and these rules may, for example, beimplemented by the filtering unit 915. At block 1008, allowed packetsare placed into respective queues 810, based on the destination terminalSNR and the signal ranges applicable to the queues 810. The queue 810with the oldest packet, and the age of that packet, are identified atblock 1010. These first blocks in FIG. 10 ( 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008,1010) may be initiated together at on or about the same time.

The reliability margin calculations for each modcode queue 810 may thenbe revised, at block 1012, based on the age of the oldest packet. Also,the blocking rules may be modified, at block 1014, also based on the ageof the oldest packet. These revisions will be implemented, at block1016, upon the expiration of the timer. In other embodiments, the periodof the timer may be modified based on the age of the oldest packet, aswell.

At block 1018, the oldest packet (or fragment thereof) is moved from theidentified queue 810 to the payload portion of a frame, for example, abase-band frame 320 for the DVB-S2 system. At block 1020, adetermination is made as to whether the frame is completed (e.g., adetermination that there is no available space left in the frame). Ifthe frame is complete, the frame is encapsulated and forwarded to themodulation and coding unit at block 1022, where it is encoded and mappedaccordingly. At block 1024, a determination is made whether the frameincludes a beginning of a fragment. If so, block 1026 indicates that thenext frame will begin with the remaining portion of the fragment tocomplete the packet (regardless of whether the timer expires in theinterim). At block 1028, a determination is made whether the timer hasexpired. If yes, at block 1048 the process 1000 is restarted, back toblock 1002.

Returning to block 1020, if the determination is made that the frame isnot complete, the frame may continue to be filled. Similarly, if thetimer has not expired at block 1028, a new frame may be constructed. Ineach case, a determination is made at block 1030 regarding whether thelast packet from a current queue 810 has been sent. If packets remain inthe current queue 810, the process returns to block 1018 to move theoldest packet from the current queue 810 to fill (or begin) the frame.However, if it is determined that no packets remain in the current queue810, a frame may still be filled or constructed with a packet from aqueue associated with a higher order queue.

Thus, at block 1032, a determination is made whether all higher orderqueues are empty. If not, a current queue identifier increments, atblock 1034, to the next highest non-empty queue 810, and then returns toblock 1018 to move the oldest packet from the newly identified queue 810to fill (or begin) the frame. When a frame is eventually completed andforwarded to the modulation and coding unit at block 1022, and packetsassociated with different modcodes are in a single frame, the lowestorder modcode associated with the packets of the frame is used. It willbe evident to those skilled in the art how the process described mayempty queues 810 to construct and fill frames, incrementing to nexthigher order non-empty queues 810 as current queues 810 are emptied.

Returning to block 1032, if it is determined that there are no higherorder queues with packets remaining, the frame is padded at block 1036(e.g., with the padding 315 of a DVB-S2 base-band frame 320). The frameis encapsulated and forwarded to the modulation and coding unit at block1038, where it is encoded and mapped accordingly. At block 1040, adetermination is made whether the timer has expired. If yes, the process1000 is restarted at block 1048. If the timer has not expired, at block1042 a determination is made whether all lower order queues are empty.If not, the process decrements, at block 1044, to the lowest ordernon-empty queue 810, and then returns to block 1018 to move the oldestpacket from that queue 810 to begin the next frame, with the processrepeating in the manner described above from block 1018.

Returning to block 1042, if the determination is that all lower orderqueues are empty, an all pad frame is built at block 1046. The processreturns to block 1038, where the all pad frame is encapsulated andforwarded to the modulation and coding unit, where it is encoded andmapped accordingly, and the process continues from there.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a process 1100 for controlling theflow of data traffic implementing adaptive coding and modulation usingpacket forwarding queues. The process may be performed, for example, inwhole or in part by the device 800 of FIGS. 8 or 9. At block 1105, adifferent modcode is assigned to each of a number of packet forwardingqueues, each queue associated with a different signal quality range. Atblock 1110, received data packets are each placed into selected queues,the selected queue associated with a signal quality range encompassingthe signal quality of a link to which the respective packet is destined.At block 1115, at least some of the data packets are transmittedaccording to a defined order of progression. At block 1120, the definedorder of progression is restarted upon expiration of a timer toidentify, and transmit, an out of order packet exceeding a thresholdage. In one set of embodiments, this identified packet is the oldestpacket remaining in the queues.

Turning to FIG. 12, a flowchart is shown which illustrates analternative process 1200 for controlling the flow of data traffic usingpacket forwarding queues to implement adaptive coding and modulation.The process may be performed, for example, in whole or in part by thedevice 800 of FIGS. 8 or 9. At block 1205, modcodes are each associatedwith a signal quality range, the signal quality range including areliability margin. At block 1210, the modcodes are each assigned to oneof a number of packet forwarding queues, each queue thereby associatedwith a different signal quality range.

At block 1215, respective data packets are each placed into selectedqueues, the selected queue for each packet being the queue associatedwith a signal quality range encompassing the signal quality of a link towhich the respective packet is destined. At block 1220, data packets aretransmitted according to a defined order of progression, the orderincluding emptying a queue and incrementing to the next higher ordermodcode queue, wherein select data packets assigned to differentmodcodes are transmitted in a single frame according to the lower ordermodcode. At block 1225, the defined order of progression is interruptedupon the expiration of a timer to identify and transmit the oldestpacket in the queues, from an out of order queue. The defined order ofprogression is then restarted, at block 1230, from the oldest packet andits queue.

At block 1235, a measure of latency associated with the oldest packet isdetermined. At block 1240, at least one of the signal quality rangesassociated with the modcodes are varied to modify the reliabilitymargin, based at least in part on the latency measure. The period of thetimer is also varied, at block 1245, based at least in part on thelatency measure. At block 1250, packets with certain class or quality ofservice characteristics are allowed to enter the queues while others areblocked, this filtering based at least in part on the characteristics ofthe oldest packet (e.g., via the latency measure).

While FIGS. 8-12 illustrate a set of embodiments in which packetforwarding queues are used to implement various aspects of theinvention, certain principles set forth may be applied using a varietyof alternative data structures. Referring next to FIG. 13, a simplifiedblock diagram illustrates an example of a traffic shaping device 1300configured to utilize a linked list data structure to shape and controldata traffic according to modcode in an ACM system. The traffic shapingdevice 1300, in one embodiment, may be the device 400 described inrelation to FIG. 4, implementing adaptive modulation and codingutilizing a linked list in the manner described below.

The device 1300 in this embodiment includes a processing unit 1305,buffers 1310, a linked list 1315, and a transmitting unit 1320. Thesecomponents ( 1305, 1310, 1315, and 1320) may be in communication withone another, and may be implemented, in whole or in part, in hardware.Thus, they may comprise one, or more, Application Specific IntegratedCircuits (ASICs) adapted to perform a subset of the applicable functionsin hardware. Alternatively, the functions may be performed by one ormore other processing units (or cores), on one or more integratedcircuits. In other embodiments, other types of integrated circuits maybe used (e.g., Structured/Platform ASICs, Field Programmable Gate Arrays(FPGAs) and other Semi-Custom ICs), which may be programmed in anymanner known in the art. Each may also be implemented, in whole or inpart, with instructions embodied in a computer-readable medium,formatted to be executed by one or more general or application specificprocessors. The buffers 1310 and linked list 1315 may be embodied on oneor more memories, which may be either on or off chip.

For purposes of discussion, assume that the device 1300 is a gateway 115within the system 100 of FIG. 1. However note that in other embodiments,the device 1300 may be used in any number of different ACMimplementations. As noted in regard to other embodiments, each terminal130 may measure the signal quality of the service link using any one ofa variety metrics, and transmit the measurement to the traffic shapingdevice 1300 via the return path. In other embodiments the device 1300may receive the link signal quality data from other sources as well. Thetraffic shaping device 1300 may then have a receive signal measurementfrom each terminal (e.g., the address/SNR table 250 of FIG. 2B), and mayorganize this data on one or more memories, which may be implemented inhardware, in a separate computer readable medium, or external to thedevice 1300.

Turning now to the packet flow, before being received by the device1300, a data packet may travel from a data source through a Class ofService/Quality of Service router (not shown), which may append severalfields of information data packet. These fields may include the QoS/CoSinformation for the packet, address information of the destinationterminal, a counter field, and a time stamp field. Any of thisfunctionality may be integrated into the device 1300, as well.

Upon being received by the traffic shaping device 1300 from a datasource, the processing unit 1305 may store received data packets (andany appended data) in the buffers 1310. The processing unit 1305 alsoinserts a new element associated with the buffered data packet in alinked list 1315, which will be used to shape the traffic as it istransmitted from the device 1300. In one embodiment, the sorting unit405 of FIG. 4 is the processing unit 1305 of FIG. 13.

The linked list may be structured in a variety of ways, as known in theart, and the following explanation illustrates only a subset of theimplementations possible. In one embodiment, the linked list may becharacterized as a data structure made up of a sequence of elements,each element containing one (or more) field for data, and alsocontaining two pointers linking the element to the next and previouselements. In one embodiment, the data in each element is made up of atoken or other pointer referencing the buffered data packet (and anyappended data) which the element represents. In other embodiments, thetoken or other pointer may reference a table which includes certainportions of the information from the buffered packet and other sources.For example, the token or other pointer may directly or indirectlyreference the modcode and address/SNR tables ( 200, 250) in FIGS. 2A and2B. There are thus a variety of ways in which the one (or more) datafield from an element may be associated with the buffered data packet(and any appended data) which the element represents.

As noted, the linked list 1315 may be characterized as a data structuremade up of a sequence of elements, each element containing a field (orfields) for data, and also containing pointers linking the element tothe next and previous elements. In one embodiment, the linked list is acircularly linked list, where the last element in the list is linkedback to the first. For ease in discussing the following embodiment, the“top” of the list will hereinafter be referred to as part of the listholding the element associated with the oldest packet remaining to beforwarded, while the “bottom” of the list will hereinafter be referredto as the part of the list holding the element associated with thenewest packet remaining to be forwarded. As data packets are received,their associated elements are inserted into the bottom of the list, tothereby construct the list.

Note that while in other embodiments packet forwarding queues may beused to shape and control traffic, a different though related mechanismmay be used in the following embodiments. For example, instead of havingmodcodes related to queues, consider an embodiment wherein each of anumber of modcodes is related to signal quality ranges (without alsonecessarily be related to physical queues). This relation could beembodied on one or more memories, which may be either on or off chip.This relation may, for example, be the table 200 of FIG. 2A. However,there are a variety of ways in which signal qualities ranges may berelated to modcodes. Note also that there may more than one rangerelated to each modcode, and the ranges may be of any size.

As noted above, when data packets are received by the traffic shapingdevice 1300, the processing unit 1305 may store received data packets(and any appended data) in the buffers 1310. The processing unit 1305also inserts a new element associated with the buffered data packet inthe linked list 1315. The processing unit 1305 may then identify asignal quality range associated with a given modcode. Identified itemsin the list will be removed in some embodiments, so that the top of thelist will identify the oldest packets to be transmitted, and the linkedlist will proceed to the bottom in chronological order. The processingunit 1305 will then iterate through the linked list 1315 to identifyelements associated with data packets destined for links within theidentified signal quality range. Once the bottom of the list is reached,the processing unit 1305 may circle to the top of the linked list 1315,and iterate through to identify elements associated with links within asecond signal quality range assigned to the next higher order modcode.This process may be repeated to identify elements associated withpackets for incrementing higher modcodes. Once the signal quality rangeassociated with the highest order modcode is emptied, the process isthen repeated beginning from the signal quality range associated withthe lowest order modcode. This order of progression is merely oneexample of many, but will be used for much of the discussion below

The transmitting unit 1320 is configured to access or otherwise receivethe buffered data packets. The transmitting unit 1320 may transmit thepackets in an order corresponding to a sequence in which theirassociated elements are identified, and according to the modcodeassigned to the identified signal quality range. In one embodiment, thetransmitting unit 410 of FIG. 4 is the transmitting unit 1320 of FIG.13. Once data is transmitted (or perhaps upon confirmation of receipt),the memory (e.g., buffers 1310) for the transmitted packet may beallocated as available.

The processing unit 1305 may be configured to identify packets accordingto a defined order of progression. Also, the transmitting unit 1320 maybe configured to transmit the packets according to the defined order ofprogression, and to produce a broadcast signal output 1325. In oneembodiment, the defined order of progression comprises identifying andtransmitting received data packets in a given signal quality rangeassociated with a first modcode (e.g., in sequence from oldest toyoungest), before identifying and transmitting each received data packetassociated with a next higher order modcode (again, perhaps in sequencefrom oldest to youngest), and incrementing accordingly to the highestorder modcode. Once the packets associated with highest order modcodeare identified, the process may then be repeated beginning from theidentified packets from the lowest order modcode.

Note that in one embodiment, the defined order of progression mayprovide for transmitting at least one data packet within a first signalquality range assigned a first modcode and a data packet or fragmentfrom a second signal quality range assigned a second modcode in a singleframe according the lower order modcode. For example, when there isadditional space available in a base-band frame 320 and no otherremaining packets are associated with a current modcode, a data packet(or fragment thereof) associated with a next higher order modcode may beinserted into the base-band frame 320. Note, also, that the term“defined order of progression” includes any of a number of schemes thatmay order and format packets for forwarding based on modcode,destination address, order received, age, etc.

In one embodiment, the defined order of progression is interrupted uponexpiration of a timer (hereinafter “interrupt timer”), and a packetexceeding a threshold age is identified. In one embodiment, theidentified packet is the oldest received packet not yet transmitted(i.e., it is the packet from the top of the list). The identified packetis then transmitted, and the defined order of progression may berestarted from the transmitted packet (i.e., the “current” signalquality range will become the signal quality range of the identifiedpacket, and the iteration through the list will continue).

Turning to FIG. 14, an alternative embodiment of the traffic shapingdevice 1300 is illustrated, including additional component functionalityfrom that described with respect to FIG. 13. In addition to thefunctionality described above for FIG. 13, the processing unit 805 inthis embodiment may include a timestamp 1405, a filtering unit 1410, amargin unit 1415, and a timer 1420. The traffic shaping device 1300 mayutilize these components to control certain flow modifications. Thetimestamp 1405 may be used to append or otherwise associate a time to apacket when it is received by the device, or at other processing stages.The timestamp 1405 may, therefore, be used to determine the “age” of thegiven packet. The timestamp may be used by other components of thetraffic shaping device 1300 to determine latency associated with aparticular packet or packets at different stages of processing (i.e.,latency from receipt at the device 1300 to transmission, latency withinthe processing unit 1305, etc.).

The processing unit 1305 may make use of a timestamp in a number ofways. For example, consider an interruption of the defined order ofprogression to identify an out of order packet. If age (determinedthrough use of the timestamp 1405) of the identified packet exceeds afirst threshold age (e.g., 70 mS), the filtering unit 1410 may beconfigured to allow an element to be inserted into the linked list 1315only if a data packet has a threshold quality or class of service, whileblocking others. If the identified packet exceeds a second threshold age(e.g., 120 mS), the filtering unit 1410 may be further configured toprevent any elements from being inserted into the linked list. Theprocessing unit 1305 may be configurable to change these thresholds.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 1305 includes a margin unit 1415configured to dynamically change a signal quality range associated withone or more queues. The margin unit 920 may vary the signal qualityrange associated with a modcode to modify a reliability margin for datapackets destined for a link within the varied signal quality range. Byway of example, the margin unit 1415 may be configured to increase theminimum signal quality of a range when traffic is light, and decreasethe minimum signal quality of a range when traffic is heavy. Thisadjustment may, for example, be made based on the age of the packetidentified at the expiration of the timer 1420.

As noted above, according to one set of embodiments, the defined orderof progression is interrupted upon expiration of a timer, and a packetexceeding a threshold age, and from an out of order signal qualityrange, is identified. The timer may be located on, or off the device. Inone embodiment, an on-device timer 1420 is located in the processingunit 1305. The processing unit 1305 may be configured to change theperiod of the timer based at least in part on the latency measure or adata flow measure (e.g., decreasing the period of the timer if the ageof the packets and data flow through the device 1300 increase). Whilethese changes may be associated with the age of the packet identified,other latency and traffic flow measurements may be used to modify theparameters related to reliability margin, block and allow rules, andperiod of the timer.

It is also worth noting that the linked list and buffers may be locatedin separate areas of memory, or share an area of memory 1425.

Turning to FIG. 15A, a block diagram 1500 illustrating a simplifiedexample of an ACM implementation using a linked list is shown. The blockdiagram illustrates how a linked list 1505 may be used to control theflow of traffic. The linked list 1505 of FIG. 15 may be the linked list1315 of FIGS. 13 and 14. In this embodiment, the linked list 1505 is adata structure made up of a sequence of elements (or nodes), eachelement containing one (or more) fields for data, and also containingtwo pointers linking the element to the next and previous elements. Thepointers linking each element to the next and previous elements areshown as links 1515. While the elements 1-25 in FIG. 15A are shown asbeing adjacent to one another, they may in fact occupy very diverseregions of memory, as is evident to those skilled in the art. In oneembodiment, the data in each element is made up of a token or otherpointer referencing a buffered data packet (and any appended data) whichthe element represents. In other embodiments, the token or other pointermay indirectly reference a table which includes certain portions of theinformation from the buffered packet and other sources. For example, inthis embodiment a table 1510 is indirectly connected to linked list1505, and the table 1510 shows the SNR estimate for the link associatedwith a variety of MAC addresses.

In this embodiment, the linked list 1505 is a circularly linked list,where the last element in the list is linked back to the first. For easein discussing the following embodiment, the “top” of the list will bereferred to as part of the list holding the element associated with theoldest packet remaining to be forwarded, while the “bottom” of the listwill be referred to as the part of the list holding the elementassociated with the newest packet remaining to be forwarded. As datapackets are received, their associated elements are inserted into thebottom of the list, to thereby construct the list. As packets areidentified for transmission, their associated elements are removed fromthe list.

FIG. 15A illustrates the list at first time (T₁). Assume that in thisembodiment, a first signal quality range includes SNR “a”, but no otherSNRs are in the range. For each element, the device 1300 may identifythe MAC address of the element, and then access the table 1510-a todetermine if the element is associated with a MAC address in the range.The device 1300 iterates through the linked list 1505-a from elements1-25, identifying and removing elements 1, 8, 17, and 24, because theseelements are associated with SNRs within the range. A second signalquality range associated with the next higher modcode includes SNR “g”,but no other SNRs are in the range. For each remaining element, thedevice 1300 may identify the MAC address of the element, and then accessthe table 1510-a to determine if the element is associated with a MACaddress in the range. The device 1300 iterates through the linked list1505, identifying and removing elements 3 and 19, because these elementsare associated with SNRs within the second range The packets associatedwith elements 1, 8, and 17 are transmitted in a first frame according tothe modcode assigned to the first signal quality range. However, becausethere is space in the DVB-S2 base-band frame 320, packets associatedwith elements 24 and 3 are transmitted in a second frame according tothe modcode assigned to the first signal quality range. The packetassociated with element 19 are transmitted in a third frame according tothe modcode assigned to the second signal quality range.

FIG. 15B shows the linked list 1505-b at a second time (T₂) after thedevice has iterated through elements 1-25, then through 2-7, 9-16, and18-23, at which time the timer expires. As is evident, elements 1, 3, 8,17, 19, and 24 have been removed from the linked list 1505-b, and newelements 26-28 have been added, and the elements that remain are linkedfrom oldest at the top to newest at the bottom. However, instead ofiterating though elements 25-28, the device 1300 will go to the top ofthe linked list to identify the oldest element (element 2) because ofthe expiration of the timer. The device will identify the signal qualityrange of this identified element, and iterate from element 2 downthrough the list, identifying other elements associated with packets inthis range. Also note that with the expiration of the timer, the table1510-b is updated, and there is a new SNR for MAC address 4. Theforegoing example is used only to illustrate a simplified example of howa linked list may be used in various embodiments of the invention.

Turning to FIG. 16, a flow diagram illustrates an example decision flow1600 for a device, such as the traffic shaping device 1300 of FIGS. 13or 14. Assume a linked list, such as the linked list 1505 of FIGS. 15Aor 15B, is ordered chronologically with the oldest elements at the topof the list. At block 1002, assume that the process begins upon theexpiration of a timer, such as the timer 1420 in the processing unit1305 of FIG. 1400. The timer then restarts. In this embodiment,different SNR ranges are associated with different modcodes. Also, thereis a table in which MAC addresses of the destination terminals areassociated SNRs 15 10. At block 1604, these tables are updated withrevised SNR information from the terminals. Incoming data packets arefiltered at block 1606 according to blocking rules based on latencymeasurement for the device 1300, and these rules may for example beimplemented by the filtering unit 1410. At block 1608, allowed packetsare associated with elements, and the elements are inserted into thebottom of the linked list. At block 1610, the signal quality rangeencompassing the signal quality for the link of the data packetassociated with the element at the top of the list is identified. Thesefirst blocks in FIG. 16 ( 1602, 1604, 1606, 1608, 1610) may be initiatedtogether at on or about the same time.

The reliability margin calculations for each modcode may then berevised, at block 1612, based on the age of the packet at the top of thelist (e.g., by varying the signal quality range associated with themodcode). Also, the blocking rules may be modified at block 1614, alsobased on the age of the packet at the top of the list (i.e., the oldestpacket). These revisions will be implemented at block 1616, upon theexpiration of the timer. In other embodiments, the period of the timermay be modified based on the age of the oldest packet, as well. Note,also, that in other embodiments, other latency or flow measurements maybe used to adjust the reliability margin, filtering rules, or period ofthe timer.

At block 1618, the packet (or fragment thereof) associated with theelement from the top of the list is moved from the buffer to the payloadportion of a frame, for example, a base-band frame 320 for the DVB-S2system. The element may then be removed from the top of the list. Atblock 1620, a determination is made as to whether the frame is completed(e.g., a determination that there is no available space left in theframe). If the frame is complete, the frame is encapsulated andforwarded to the modulation and coding unit at block 1622, where it isencoded and mapped accordingly. At block 1624, a determination is madewhether the frame includes a beginning of a fragment. If so, block 1626indicates that the next frame will begin with the remaining portion ofthe fragment to complete the packet (regardless of whether timer expiresin interim). At block 1628, a determination is made whether the timerhas expired. If yes, at block 1650 the process 1600 is restarted, backto block 1602.

Returning to block 1620, if the determination is made that the frame isnot complete, the frame may continue to be filled. Similarly, if thetimer has not expired at block 1628, a new frame may be constructed. Ineach case, a determination is made at block 1630 regarding whether thelast packet from the current signal quality range has been sent. This isaccomplished by iterating down through the elements of the linked listand checking whether the SNRs of each associated data packet fall withthe current range. If so, the next applicable element down the list isidentified at block 1632, and the process returns to block 1618 to movethe packet associated with the element from the buffers to fill (orbegin) the frame. However, if it is determined that no packets remain inthe current signal quality range (i.e., the bottom of the linked list isreached), a frame may still be filled or constructed with a packet froma queue associated with a higher order queue.

Thus, at block 1634, a determination is made whether other elements areassociated with any signal quality ranges assigned to higher ordermodcodes are empty. This is accomplished by circling to the top of thelist and iterating through the list to determine if there are elementsassociated with the signal quality range assigned to the next highermodcode, and continuing this circling. If there is an element associatedwith a higher order modcode, a signal quality range increments, at block1636, to the signal quality range of that element, and then returns toblocks 1632 and 1634 to identify the element and move the associatedpacket from the buffer to fill (or begin) the frame. When a frame iseventually completed and forwarded to the modulation and coding unit atblock 1622, and packets associated with different modcodes are in asingle frame, the lowest order modcode associated with the packets ofthe frame is used. It will be evident to those skilled in the art howthe process described may identify the packets from a signal qualityrange assigned to a modcode to construct and fill frames, and thencircle to the top of a list to identify packets from the signal qualityrange associated with the next higher modcode.

Returning to block 1634, if it is determined that there are no elementsassociated with higher order modcodes, the frame is padded at block 1638(e.g., with the padding 315 of a DVB-S2 base-band frame 320). The frameis encapsulated and forwarded to the modulation and coding unit at block1640, where it is encoded and mapped accordingly. At block 1642, adetermination is made whether the timer has expired. If yes, the process1600 is restarted at block 1650. If the timer has not expired, at block1644, a determination is made whether any elements associated withpackets assigned to lower order modcodes remain in the linked list. Thisis accomplished by circling to the top of the linked list and iteratingthrough the list to determine if there are elements associated with thesignal quality range assigned to the lowest order modcode, andcontinuing this circling. If such an element is found, the processdecrements, at block 1646, to the signal quality range of that element,then returns to blocks 1632 and 1634 to identify the element and movethe associated packet from the buffer to begin the frame, with theprocess moving forward from that point.

Returning to block 1644, if a determination is made that no elementsassociated with packets assigned to lower order modcodes remain, an allpad frame is built at block 1648. The process returns to block 1640,where the all pad frame is encapsulated and forwarded to the modulationand coding unit, where it is encoded and mapped accordingly, and theprocess continues from there.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a process 1700 for controlling theflow of data traffic by implementing adaptive coding and modulationusing a linked list data structure. The process may be performed, forexample, in whole or in part, by the device 1300 of FIGS. 13 or 14. Atblock 1705, each of a number of data packets is associated with a signalquality, the signal quality being a representative signal quality of alink to which the packet is destined. At block 1710, a different modcodeis assigned to each of a number of signal quality ranges.

At block 1715, a number of elements are inserted into a linked list,each element associated with one of the data packets. At block 1720, thelinked list is iterated through to identify elements associated withlinks within a first signal quality range. At block 1725, data packetsare transmitted in an order corresponding to a sequence in which theirassociated elements are identified, the transmission according to afirst modcode assigned to the first signal quality range.

Turning to FIG. 18, a flowchart is shown which illustrates analternative process 1200 for controlling the flow of data traffic usinglinked list data structures to implement adaptive coding and modulation.The process may be performed, for example, in whole or in part, by thedevice 1300 of FIGS. 13 or 14. At block 1805, different modcodes areassigned to each of a number of signal quality ranges. At block 1810, anumber of data packets are associated with a signal quality, the signalquality being a representative signal quality of a link to which eachpacket is destined.

At block 1815, in a linked list connected chronologically from oldestelement at the top to newest element at the bottom, a number of elementseach associated with one of the data packets are inserted. At block1820, the linked list is iterated through to identify elementsassociated with links within a first signal quality range. At block1825, after circling to the top of the linked list, the linked list isiterated through to identify elements associated with links within asecond, next higher signal quality range. At block 1830, data packetsare transmitted in an order corresponding to a sequence in which theirassociated elements are identified, wherein one or more frames aretransmitted according to a first modcode assigned to the first signalquality range, and each frame includes a packet from both ranges.

At block 1835, upon expiration of a timer, a pointer circles to the topof list to thereby identify the oldest packet in the linked list. Thepacket may then be transmitted. At block 1840, a measure of latencyassociated with the oldest packet is determined. At block 1845, at leastone of the signal quality ranges associated with the modcodes is changedto modify a reliability margin, based at least in part on the latencymeasure. At block 1850, the period of the timer is modified based atleast in part on the latency measure. At block 1855, only elementsassociated with packets with certain class or quality of servicecharacteristics are allowed to enter the linked list, while others areblocked, based at least in part on the characteristics of the latencymeasure.

Referring next to FIG. 19, a simplified block diagram illustrates anexample of a flow control and traffic shaping device 1900 configured todynamically change the reliability margins associated with differentmodcodes in an ACM system. The flow control and traffic shaping device1900, in one embodiment, may be the device 400 described in relation toFIG. 4, implementing adaptive modulation and coding utilizing adynamically variable reliability margin.

The device 1900 in this embodiment includes a processing unit 1905, atransmitting unit 1910, and a table 200 in which modcodes are assignedto various signal quality ranges. These components ( 1905, 1910, and200) may be in communication with one another, and may be implemented,in whole or in part, in hardware. Thus, they may comprise one, or more,Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) adapted to perform asubset of the applicable functions in hardware. Alternatively, thefunctions may be performed by one or more other processing units (orcores), on one or more integrated circuits. In other embodiments, othertypes of integrated circuits may be used (e.g., Structured/PlatformASICs, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and other Semi-CustomICs), which may be programmed in any manner known in the art. Each mayalso be implemented, in whole or in part, with instructions embodied ina computer-readable medium, formatted to be executed by one or moregeneral or application specific processors. The modcode/signal qualityrange table 200 may be embodied on one or more memories, which may beeither on or off chip.

For purposes of discussion, assume that the device 1900 is a gateway 115within the system 100 of FIG. 1. However, note that in otherembodiments, the device 1300 may be used in any number of different ACMimplementations. As noted in regard to other embodiments, each terminal130 may measure the signal quality of the service link using any one ofa variety of metrics, and transmit the measurement to the flow controland traffic shaping device 1900 via the return path. In otherembodiments, the device 1900 may receive the link signal quality datafrom other sources as well. The device 1900 may then have receive signalquality metrics for each receiving terminal (e.g., the address/SNR table250 of FIG. 2B), and may organize this data on one or more memories.

The processing unit 1905 is configured to assign a different modcode toeach data packet after the packet is received by the device. Thisassignment is based at least in part on a signal quality of a link towhich the respective packet is destined. The processing unit 1905 isconfigured to use a destination, in conjunction with the signal qualityestimate, to identify a modcode to use to communicate with a terminal130. To do so, the processing unit 1905 accesses a modcode table 200, orother mechanisms which correlate certain signal quality ranges withdifferent modcodes.

Additionally, the processing unit 1905 in this embodiment is configuredto dynamically change a signal quality range associated with one or moremodcodes. The processing unit 1905 may change or otherwise vary thesignal quality range associated with a modcode to modify a reliabilitymargin for data packets destined for a link within that signal qualityrange. By way of example, the processing unit 1905 may be configured toincrease the minimum signal quality of a particular range when trafficis light, and decrease the minimum signal quality of a particular rangewhen traffic is heavy. The processing unit 1905 in this embodiment mayalso possess the functionality of the margin units (920,1415) describedin other embodiments.

Turning briefly to FIG. 20 to describe further the scope of thisterminology, a linear representation of a range of SNR values 2000 isillustrated. The reliability margin 2005 for each of a number ofmodcodes is shown, as well. The lower limit 2010 of the E_(S)/N_(O)value for a particular modcode is shown as the point Rn in FIG. 20. Thelower limit 2010 is a somewhat arbitrary characterization, as it may becalculated in a number of different ways. For purposes of thisdiscussion, it may include any identified, requisite, or otherwisesuggested boundary for the lower limit for an E_(S)/N_(O) value of aparticular modcode. The implemented lower limit 2015 of an E_(S)/N_(O)value is shown as well, as points Mn in FIG. 20, and is the lower limit2010 plus a reliability margin for a particular modcode. A reliabilitymargin 2005 is, therefore, the difference between a lower limit 2010 andan implemented lower limit 2015, and may include any environmental,weather, implementation, or other margin.

In various embodiments of the invention, the reliability margin for oneor more modcodes may be varied dynamically. Consider, for purposes ofexample, modcode2 2020. Consider first a period of relatively lowtraffic, and thus low latency. In such an environment, there may beexcess capacity available, and thus the reliability margin 2015 may beincreased (e.g., to 4 dB) without impacting latency or flow. This way,the reliability margin may be dynamically increased as traffic lightens.However, if there is a sudden burst of significant traffic through thedevice 1900, the flow demands on the device 1900 may be increased. Thus,the reliability margin 2015 may be dynamically decreased as trafficincreases, either incrementally (e.g., 4 dB, to 3 dB, to 2 dB, to 1 dB,to 0.5 dB), or otherwise. A number of factors (latency, flow,anticipated traffic, etc.) may be used to dynamically control areliability margin, as will be discussed in further detail below. In oneembodiment, the reliability margin 2015 is zero. In another embodiment,the reliability margin is fixed, and the signal quality ranges may varyonly with changes in weather or other environmental conditions.

Returning to FIG. 19, the processing unit 1905 may perform otherfunctions in addition to dynamically adjusting the signal quality rangeassociated with different modcodes. For example, the processing unit1905 may identify packets for transmission based on modified signalquality ranges, and according to a defined order of progression. Thetransmitting unit 1910 may transmit packets according to the definedorder of progression, and produce a broadcast signal output 1915. In oneembodiment, the defined order of progression entails transmitting eachreceived data packet in a given modified signal quality range assignedto a first modcode (e.g., in sequence from oldest to youngest), beforeincrementing to the next higher order modcode and transmitting eachreceived data packet in a modified signal range associated with a nexthigher order modcode (again, perhaps in sequence from oldest toyoungest), and incrementing accordingly to the highest order modcode.Once the highest order modcode is emptied, the process is then repeatedbeginning from a modified signal quality range associated with thelowest order modcode. Note that in one embodiment, the defined order ofprogression may provide for transmitting at least one data packet from afirst modified signal quality range and a data packet or fragment from asecond modified signal quality range according to the lower ordermodcode. Note, also, that the term “defined order of progression” mayinclude any of a number of packet forwarding schemes that may order andformat packets for forwarding based on modcode, destination address,order received, age, etc., or perhaps randomly.

In one embodiment, the defined order of progression is interrupted uponexpiration of a timer (hereinafter “interrupt timer”), and a packetexceeding a threshold age, and from an out of order signal qualityrange, is identified and transmitted. The identified packet in oneembodiment is the oldest received packet not yet transmitted (i.e., thethreshold age is the second oldest packet). The defined order ofprogression may be restarted from the transmitted packet.

The age of the out of order packet may be utilized in a variety of waysto modify the control of packets through the device 1900. Moreover,other latency and flow measurements may be made by the processing unit1905 and the transmitting unit 1910. The delay at the device 1900associated with certain functions and components, or groups of functionsand components, may be measured. This type of latency measurement mayoccur for the out of order packet, or select groups of other packets.The latency measurement may, for example, simply be a count of thosepackets transmitted that are over some threshold age. A number oflatency and packet flow measurements are known in art, and any may beused herein.

In addition to on-device latency measurements, external devices mayprovide additional data, whether locally or from the network. Forexample, a network operations center (NOC) may transmit certain latencystatistics or flow information to a device. A NOC may also provideinformation on a future change in traffic flow. A variety of network andtesting tools are known in the art that may provide flow statistics,latency measurements, and other network information to a device 1900.

The processing unit 1905 may use the latency information, flowstatistics, and additional network information described above todynamically change a signal quality range associated with a givenmodcode and thereby to modify the associated reliability margin. In oneembodiment, the reliability margin may be adjusted based on the age ofthe identified out of order packet, for example: if T0>90 mS, setreliability margin to 0.5 dB; if 90 mS>T0>60 mS, set reliability marginto 1 dB; and if 60 mS>T0, set margin to 2 dB. Other thresholds may beestablished to modify signal quality ranges (i.e., to change thereliability margin) based on the other latency information, flowstatistics, and additional network information described above.

The processing unit 1305 may make use of the latency information, flowstatistics, and additional network information described above in anumber of other ways. It may use all the received information, or onlyselected aspects of the received information. By way of example, inaddition to modifying the reliability margin, filtering rules forblocking or allowing certain packets may be changed to account for thelatency information, flow statistics, and/or additional networkinformation described above. For example, in periods of higher traffic,QoS/CoS priority filtering rules may be implemented. Also, the period ofthe timer may be modified based on the latency information, flowstatistics, and/or additional network information described above. Thus,the period may be decreased when latency increases, to more regularlyjump to the oldest remaining packets.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a process 2100 for controlling theflow of data traffic by implementing adaptive coding and modulationusing a dynamic reliability margin. The process may be performed, forexample, in whole or in part, by the device 1900 of FIG. 19. At block2105, a different modcode is assigned to each of a number signal qualityranges. At block 2110, one or more of the signal quality ranges aredynamically varied to modify a reliability margin for delivery of datapackets destined for a link with a signal quality within the range.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an alternative process 2200 forcontrolling the flow of data traffic by dynamically modifying certainfactors in an ACM system. The process may be performed, for example, inwhole or in part by the device 1900 of FIG. 19. At block 2205, adifferent modcode is assigned to each of a number of signal qualityranges. At block 2210, data packets are transmitted in a defined orderof progression, at least a subset is transmitted according to themodcode assigned to their destination link. At block 2215, a timerexpires, and an out of order packet exceeding a threshold age isidentified at block 2220, thereby interrupting the defined order ofprogression.

At block 2225, transmission of data packets is restarted in a definedorder of progression from the identified out of order packet. Inparallel with block 2225, a range of latency and flow measurements maybe made or received at block 2245. For example, the age of the out oforder packet may be determined at block 2230, while in otherembodiments, other latency measurements associated with the packet maybe made as well. At block 2235, other latency factors attributed to aflow or the device 1900 may be measured, and additional flow statisticsmay be compiled or analyzed. Also, network data may be received at block2240.

This range of latency and flow measurements 2245 may be used, in wholeor in part, to calculate a modification to one or more parameters from agroup of traffic shaping and flow control parameters 2265. At block2250, the reliability margin attributable to one or more modcodes may bechanged in light of the latency and flow measurements 2245. At block2255, the period for the timer may be changed in light of the latencyand flow measurements 2245. At block 2260, the filtering rules relatedto blocking or selective blocking based on QoS/CoS may be changed inlight of the latency and flow measurements 2245.

At block 2270, upon the next expiration of the timer, the modificationsto one or more parameters from a group of traffic shaping and flowcontrol parameters 2265 are implemented. At block 2275, transmission ofdata packets is restarted in a defined order of progression with theimplemented changes.

It should again be noted that the methods, systems and devices discussedabove are intended merely to be exemplary in nature. It must be stressedthat various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various proceduresor components as appropriate. For instance, it should be appreciatedthat in alternative embodiments, the methods may be performed in anorder different than that described, and that various steps may beadded, omitted or combined. Also, features described with respect tocertain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments.Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in asimilar manner. Also, it should be emphasized that technology evolvesand, thus, many of the elements are exemplary in nature and should notbe interpreted to limit the scope of the invention.

Specific details are given in the description to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practicedwithout these specific details. For example, well-known circuits,processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shownwithout unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a processwhich is depicted as a flowchart or a flow diagram. Although they maydescribe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operationscan be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order ofthe operations may be rearranged. A process is terminated when itsoperations are completed, but could have additional steps not includedin the figure.

Moreover, as disclosed herein, the term “memory” may represent one ormore devices or components thereof for storing data, including read onlymemory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic RAM, core memory,magnetic disk storage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memorydevices or other machine readable mediums for storing information. Theterm “computer-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to,portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, wirelesschannels, a sim card, other smart cards, and various other mediumscapable of storing, containing or carrying instructions or data.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or anycombination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middlewareor microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessarytasks may be stored in a machine readable medium such as a storagemedium. Processors may perform the necessary tasks.

Having described several embodiments, it will be recognized by those ofskill in the art that various modifications, alternative constructions,and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of theinvention. For example, the above elements may merely be a component ofa larger system, wherein other rules may take precedence over orotherwise modify the application of the invention. Also, a number ofsteps may be required before the above elements are considered.Accordingly, the above description should not be taken as limiting thescope of the invention, which is defined in the following claims.

1. A method of implementing adaptive coding and modulation in abroadcast signal, the method comprising: associating a first modcodewith a first signal quality range; associating a second modcode of ahigher order than the first modcode with a second signal quality rangeof better quality than the first signal quality range; receiving a firstdata packet destined for a first link within the first signal qualityrange and a second data packet destined for a second link within thesecond signal quality range; encapsulating the first data packet and atleast a part of the second data packet in a first frame; andtransmitting the first frame in the broadcast signal according to thefirst modcode.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: varying atleast one of the first signal quality range and the second signalquality range to modify a reliability margin for data packets destinedfor a link within the varied signal quality range.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the varying step comprises: varying at least one of thefirst signal quality range and the second signal quality range based atleast in part on latency associated with the transmitting step.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, fragmenting the second data packet into a firstfragment and a second fragment; transmitting the first fragment in thefirst frame; and transmitting the second fragment in a second frameaccording to the second modcode.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein theencapsulating step further comprises: applying a policy of encapsulatingdata packets associated with different modcodes in one frame to betransmitted according to a lowest order modcode of the differentmodcodes, the policy applied when there are no other remaining datapackets associated with the lowest order modcode.
 6. The method of claim5, wherein the policy comprises: determining a length of a prospectivepad for the at least one data packet associated with a first modcode;determining that no data packet associated with the first modcoderemains to fill the prospective pad; and filling the prospective padwith the data packet associated with the second modcode.
 7. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: transmitting additional frames in thebroadcast signal according to a defined order of progression; andinterrupting the defined order of progression upon expiration of a timerto transmit, in a second frame, a packet exceeding a threshold age. 8.The method of claim 7, further comprising: varying the period of thetimer based at least in part on a delay associated with transmitting theadditional frames.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein, the associatingthe first modcode with the first data packet comprises placing the firstdata packet in a first packet forwarding queue associated with the firstsignal quality range; and the associating the second modcode with thesecond data packet comprises placing the second data packet in a secondpacket forwarding queue associated with the second signal quality range.10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: inserting, in a linkedlist, a first element corresponding to the first data packet andassociated first signal quality; inserting, in the linked list, a secondelement corresponding to the second data packet and associated secondsignal quality; and iterating through the linked list to identify a setof data packets for encapsulation and transmission based at least inpart on a signal quality associated with each element of the linkedlist.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the adaptive coding andmodulation is implemented in accordance with a DVB-S2 standard.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein signal quality comprises at least one of asignal to noise ratio, an estimated signal to noise ratio, a bit errorrate, a receive power level, and another communication link qualityindicator.
 13. A device for implementing adaptive modcodes, the devicecomprising: a sorting unit configured to: associate a first modcode witha first packet to be received on a first link defined by a signalquality in a first signal quality range; associate a higher order secondmodcode with a second packet to be received on a second link defined bya signal quality in a second signal quality range of better quality thanthe first signal quality range; an encapsulation unit, coupled with thesorting unit, and configured to encapsulate the first packet and secondpacket in a first frame; and a modulation and coding unit, coupled withthe encapsulation unit, and configured to encode and map the frameaccording to the first modcode.
 14. The device of claim 13, wherein, thesorting unit is further configured to vary at least one of the firstsignal quality range and the second signal quality range to modify areliability margin for a transmitted data packet destined for a linkwithin the varied signal quality range.
 15. The device of claim 13,wherein, the sorting unit is further configured to vary at least one ofthe first signal quality range and the second signal quality range basedat least in part on latency associated with the transmitting step. 16.The device of claim 13, wherein, the encapsulation unit is furtherconfigured to: fragment the second data packet into a first fragment anda second fragment; encapsulate the first fragment in the first frame;and encapsulate the second fragment in a second frame to be transmittedaccording to the second modcode.
 17. The device of claim 13, wherein,the sorting unit is configured to group data packets associated withdifferent modcodes for encapsulation in one frame to be transmittedaccording to a lowest order modcode of the different modcodes, thegrouping to occur when there are no other remaining data packetsassociated with the lowest order modcode.
 18. The device of claim 13,further comprising a transmitter configured to: transmit additionalframes in the broadcast signal according to a defined order ofprogression; and interrupt the defined order of progression uponexpiration of a timer to transmit, in a second frame, a packet exceedinga threshold age.
 19. The device of claim 18, wherein, the transmitter isfurther configured to vary the period of timer based at least in part ona latency associated with transmitting the additional frames.
 20. Amethod of controlling the flow of data traffic for a broadcast signalimplementing adaptive coding and modulation, the method comprising:dynamically assigning a modcode of a plurality of modcodes to each of aplurality of data packets based at least in part on a signal quality ofa link on which each respective packet is destined; associating atimestamp with each of the plurality of data packets; transmitting asubset of the plurality of data packets according to a defined order ofprogression; and interrupting the defined order of progression uponexpiration of a timer to transmit an out of order packet with atimestamp exceeding a first threshold age, wherein the out of orderpacket comprises one of the plurality of packets not included in thesubset.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first threshold agecomprises the timestamp of the second oldest of the plurality of datapackets not included in the subset.
 22. The method of claim 20, furthercomprising: blocking additional data packets when the out of orderpacket exceeds a second threshold age.
 23. The method of claim 22,further comprising: allowing only data packets associated with athreshold quality or class of service to enter while blocking theadditional packets.
 24. The method of claim 20, further comprising:restarting the defined order of progression from the out of orderpacket.
 25. The method of claim 20, further comprising: varying theperiod of timer based at least in part on a delay associated withtransmitting from the packet forwarding queues.
 26. The method of claim20, wherein the transmitting according to the defined order ofprogression comprises: transmitting each data packet associated with afirst modcode of the plurality of modcodes; and incrementing to a nexthigher order second modcode of the plurality of modcodes to transmit adata packet associated with an oldest timestamp of the plurality of datapackets associated with the second modcode.
 27. The method of claim 26,wherein the transmitting according to the defined order of progressionfurther comprises: transmitting at least one data packet associated witha first modcode and the data packet associated with the second modcodein a single frame according the first modcode.
 28. The method of claim28, wherein the transmitting according to the defined order ofprogression further comprises: determining a length of a prospective padfor the at least one data packet associated with a first modcode;determining that no data packet associated with the first modcoderemains to fill the prospective pad; and filling the prospective padwith the data packet associated with the second modcode.
 29. The methodof claim 20, further comprising: utilizing a counter to associate anorder with the plurality of data packets; and holding transmission of adata packet of the plurality of data packets when the packet is out ofthe order specified by the counter.
 30. The method of claim 20, furthercomprising: varying a signal quality range associated with one or moreof the plurality of modcodes to modify a reliability margin for at leasta subset of the plurality of data packets destined for a link within thevaried signal quality range.
 31. The method of claim 20, wherein thetransmitting according to the defined order of progression comprises:fragmenting an internet protocol data packet of the plurality of datapackets into first fragment and second fragment, each fragmentassociated with a first modcode of the plurality of modcodes;transmitting the first fragment according to a second modcode of theplurality of modcodes; and transmitting the second fragment according tothe first modcode, the first modcode of higher order than the secondmodcode.
 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the first fragment is sizedto fill a length of prospective pad for a frame to be transmittedaccording to the second modcode.
 33. The method of claim 20, wherein thedynamically assigning the modcode step comprises: placing selected datapackets of the plurality of data packet into selective ones of aplurality of packet forwarding queues each associated with differentsignal quality ranges.
 34. The method of claim 20, further comprising:inserting, into a linked list, a plurality of elements eachcorresponding to one or more of the plurality of data packets and anassociated signal quality; and iterating through the linked list toidentify a set of data packets for encapsulation and transmission basedat least in part on a signal quality associated with each element of thelinked list.
 35. The method of claim 20, wherein the adaptive coding andmodulation is implemented in accordance with a DVB-S2 standard.
 36. Themethod of claim 20, wherein the signal quality comprises at least one ofa signal to noise ratio, an estimated signal to noise ratio, a bit errorrate, a receive power level, and another communication link qualityindicator.
 37. A device for controlling the flow of data traffic for abroadcast signal implementing adaptive coding and modulation, the devicecomprising: a sorting unit configured to dynamically assign a differentmodcode to each of a plurality of packets based at least in part on asignal quality of a link on which each respective packet is to bereceived; a transmitting unit, coupled with the sorting unit, andconfigured to: transmit a subset of the plurality of packets accordingto a defined order of progression; and interrupt the defined order ofprogression upon expiration of a timer to transmit an out of orderpacket exceeding a threshold age, wherein the out of order packetcomprises one of the plurality of packets not included in the subset.38. The device of claim 37, wherein, the sorting unit is furtherconfigured to block additional data packets when the out of order packetexceeds a second threshold age.
 39. The device of claim 38, wherein, thesorting unit is further configured to allow data packets associated witha threshold quality or class of service to enter.
 40. The device ofclaim 37, wherein, the transmitting unit is further configured torestarting the defined order of progression from the out of orderpacket.
 41. The device of claim 37, wherein, the transmitting unit isfurther configured to varying the period of the timer based at least inpart on a latency associated with transmitting from the packetforwarding queues.
 42. The device of claim 37, wherein, the transmittingunit is further configured to: transmit each data packet associated witha first modcode of the plurality of modcodes before incrementing to anext higher order second modcode of the plurality of modcodes; andtransmit a data packet with an oldest timestamp associated with thesecond modcode.
 43. The device of claim 42, wherein, the transmittingunit is further configured to transmit at least one data packetassociated with the first modcode and the data packet associated withthe second modcode in a single frame according to the first modcode. 44.The device of claim 37, wherein, the sorting unit is configured to varya signal quality range associated with one or more of the plurality ofmodcodes to modify a reliability margin for at least a subset of theplurality of data packets destined for a link within the varied signalquality range.